What Can Be Done?

The question that we all need to be asking is: "What are we doing about all of this??"

Lot's of work has been done on the legislative side, implementing laws against the pimps and “John’s,” and increasing the punishment for having sex with a minor into a felony.  This means they will have a permanent record, have to register as a sex offender, pay $10,000 and serve time in jail.  There is also training being done to educate law enforcement and others so that they realize these women are being controlled, coerced and manipulated into selling their bodies for sex.  Women and girls in sex trafficking situations are often misidentified as "willing" participants in the sex industry.  

Now the biggest missing hole facing us today is how are we going to help the victims?

Unfortunately, I have learned that shelters and recovery homes are few and far between.  In fact there are less than a hundred beds available for women in the whole United States!  I am happy to say that Oregon will be offering some of those beds!  House ofEngedi located in Corvallis is a faith based long-term, women’s residential care facility offering a home of recovery including access to counseling, medical care, education, life skills training, and overall healing.  When these young women have been in this life for some time, they are often attached to their pimps and suffer from PTSD as well as Stolkholm’s syndrome making it extremely difficult to cut ties and begin a new life.  House of Engedi is there to help them through this process, offering hope and a new beginning.  They need our partnership and support in this huge endeavour.